National Inquiry into MMIWG “A Complete Waste of Time” Unless It Dramatically Transforms Power Structures

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – November 28, 2018) On Monday Union of BC Indian Chiefs Secretary Treasurer Kupki7 Judy Wilson told the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls to hold the Canadian state, in all its forms, accountable for “gross acts of violence, injustice, purposeful marginalization, and exclusion.”

After years of advocacy by grassroots women, organizations, and UBCIC to bring this inquiry into being – the inquiry has a duty to challenge the systemic and root causes of the violence faced by Indigenous women and girls. Specifically, the UBCIC called on the Commissioners to speak truth to power and make “bold” recommendations that give governments, the police, and colonial structures a clear roadmap to stop the loss of life and fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; anything less would render the inquiry a waste.

In this statement, Kukpi7 Wilson re-emphasized a concern that Indigenous women and organizations have expressed repeatedly throughout the inquiry: if no deep change comes from this Inquiry, the shameful legacy of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous women and girls will continue. Without explicit recommendations focused on uprooting colonial violence and state-led oppression, the inquiry’s findings will be just another report collecting dust on a shelf.

Despite the profound limitations of the current inquiry, Indigenous activists, organizations, families, and women are not stalled or deterred in their pursuit of security, justice, visibility, and power for Indigenous women and girls. Kupki7 Wilson stated: “Indigenous women and girls will not be erased; we are strong, and we will demand justice every day, for all our days. Our calls for justice will not be silenced with the closing of this inquiry, but instead, this will be another platform on which we will stand to demand justice.”

The closing oral submission is attached in full.

Media inquiries:

Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, Union of BC Indian ChiefsPhone: (250) 320-7738

Kukpi7 Judy Wilson Oral Closing Submission

Calgary, Alberta November 26th, 2018

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I am Chief Judy Wilson, the Secretary- Treasurer on the Union of BC Indian Chiefs Executive.

I am here on behalf of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

I am also a survivor. My sister was murdered 23 years ago. My mother and brother told their story at the hearings in Vancouver, for the first time. I am here to ensure that their stories, and the stories of others do not go silent, and that justice is realized for everyone.